In recent years, law enforcement organs, together with telecom companies and regulators, have upped the tempo in cracking down on mobile phone, and online scammers, who run fraudulent schemes to steal money from people.

However, it appears as law enforcers tighten the grip on the scammers, they also come up with new sophisticated ways to defraud people out of their hard-earned money.

On a random Tuesday afternoon, Ernest Muhire got a call from someone, who claimed to be a school teacher of his son, who said that the eight-year-old had fallen and injured himself and that he was admitted at one of the local hospitals.

The ‘teacher’ sent a number asking him to deposit Rwf46, 000 to clear the emergency taxi and initial hospital bills, as they waited for him to show up at the hospital.

Knowing how ‘playful’ his son is, Muhire, who was in a meeting at work, did not hesitate, and quickly sent the money as he hurriedly excused himself to go to the hospital to check on his ‘injured’ son.

"I was panicking. On my way to the hospital, I called my wife to deliver the news and inform her that I was headed to the hospital, but she didn’t pick up at that time. I sent her an emergency message,” he recalled.

"When I got to the hospital, they told me that they had not admitted any child by my son’s name. While I was still confused, my wife called back and she laughed when I narrated the entire scenario to her. She said the boy was okay and safe at school,” he added.

His wife had just talked to the teacher, and their son was fine. Nearly an hour had elapsed. Muhire tried to call back the number, but it was off. They had defrauded him.

It is a trick many scammers use on parents, who they know have children at certain schools, and they are sure the parents are busy – chances of catching them off-guard are high.

While some parents and guardians will easily detect when they are well-aware of their children’s whereabouts and state, some easily fall for it, including those with children in boarding schools.

In the same manner, similar mobile money fraud is done on handset owners, who receive a message duping them that they accidentally received a certain amount of money which they are compelled to send back.

Vestine Uwimana, a businesswoman in Kimironko market, said she received a message which seemed real, asking her to send back a certain amount of money, thinking a client sent it to her accidentally.

"The message looked real like it was coming from mobile money. It normally happens. My clients accidentally send me money, or more than they were expected to send and I reverse it. I did not bother to verify or check if indeed the amount came,”

"I just copied the number and ‘sent back’ Rwf30, 000. A few minutes later, it dawned on me that I could have been conned. I went back to check my balance and realised that I had not received the said amount. Instead, I had sent my own money,” she narrates.

By the time she could go back to call the number, it was a little too late. The telecom company informed her that the amount had been withdrawn from the SIM card, which had been recently registered.

In the same market, Jean Claude Uwizeye, another trader was targeted by similar scammers, who insisted that if he did not send back the amount, the telecom company, which they claimed to work for, would block his SIM card.

"They called several times, until I eventually told them that I know they are fraudsters, and I am well aware of their tricks. They insulted me with all sorts of obscenities and cursed me,” Uwizeye said.

Other commonly targeted groups include individuals looking for driving permits, passports or visas.

"Send that amount to this number and go to Busanza and call this number, Afande has your driving permit,” reads one of the most commonly sent out messages recently, which target people wishing to have a driving license.

Other scams include online transactions, where people are enticed to buy certain goods, such as mobile phones, televisions, clothes and other items which look good in pictures, at very seductive prices.

ALSO READ: Over 30% Rwandans targeted by online fraud money scams

All these and more are scams, which Rwanda Investigations Bureau (RIB), and other law enforcements are aware of and work around the clock to stop, much as the scammers keep evolving, and getting more sophisticated in their operations by the day.

"We’re aware of them and we have been sensitising the public to be aware of this growing scourge. We keep seeing different forms of such scams done on mobile phones or online coming up,” says Thierry Murangira, the Spokesperson of RIB.

"We register many such cases, people losing their money to fraudsters, being sold fake goods, or even surrendering their valuables to scammers. Some even operate cross border scams, using platforms such as Mpesa and eCommerce platforms,” Murangira said.

Murangira warned that, as the fraudsters find new tricks to con unsuspecting victims, people have to be more vigilant and less gullible, and also think twice before sending money to people they do not know.

They operate in some sort of rings, or cartels, which Murangira said they often have to bust but new forms and styles keep coming up. Some target young people, promising them employment and travel opportunities to attend conferences.

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It is one of those down sides of technology that even regulators like the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) are aware of, according to the Governor, John Rwangombwa, and are working hard to put to a stop, but the evolving nature of such crimes allows the perpetrators to buy time.

"Yes, we are aware of these crooks, and together with financial service providers we have been making awareness campaigns for the public to be aware of such people, but also, we are working with law enforcement institutions to deal with the issue,” Rwangombwa told The New Times.

What do telecoms say?

Jean Claude Gaga, Managing Director - Airtel Mobile Commerce Rwanda, said that as a business, they have been noticing a spike in the fashion of scams being applied, but scamming has always been part of their monitoring work.

"We have both proactive and reactive measures. Proactively we screen every mobile wallet before it is successfully created by ensuring highest authentication of the customer identity via physical and nonphysical validation means,” Gaga told this publication.

"By regulation we also ensure that even post activation of mobile wallets we continuously monitor that the customer does not have more than the prescribed numbers of wallets. Regulation in Rwanda allows a maximum of three wallets per ID,” he added

He added that they have tools that review customer behaviours and any diversion from normal trends is flagged for further review by their compliance teams.

Airtel Money also allows customers to periodically change their pin and reinforce it with security questions set by the customer during the activation process.

Gaga noted that they periodically send awareness communication to both their agents and customers on the need to keep their wallet info safe.

He pointed out that they also have a 24/7 call centre helpline that has the ability to freeze funds when a customer reports in time.

"After the call centre agent freezes the funds, upon confirmation of info provided by the customer, we immediately reverse the funds to the rightful owner,” he observed.

'Too little, too late'

Gaga said that there are cases where the customer will not report on time, and do so after the fraudster has moved or cashed out the funds and, in this case – they advise the customer to pursue further help from RIB.

"We closely work with RIB when formally requested to provide information leading to the recovery of such funds. Reactively we also work with our fellow service providers to share supporting data leading to recovery of such fraudulent transactions in time,” he adds.

"We have a framework of engagement with BNR where there is a periodic review of fraud cases via a forum of peers in banking and digital payment providers,” Gaga noted, adding that they use the platform to examine trends being applied to defraud customers and agree on actions to counter them.

Among the actions, include strengthening internal processes and customer education.

Gaga said that with these recent trends there is a need for more awareness and outreach programs to ensure customers do not lose trust in digital ways of transacting.

"We always urge customers to always cross check - by calling the number requesting for funds even if it is someone you know - before sending the funds. Anyone is susceptible to fraud yet it is 100 per cent preventable,” he observed.

Mobile Money Rwanda had not responded to our query by press time.

A worrisome trend

According to RIB, the fraudsters use different tricks to hoodwink their unsuspecting targets, who they manage to get their contacts, through lost documents or register new SIM cards using other people’s identities.

In some cases, they manage to get contacts or ID numbers from discarded documents from schools, hospitals or other public institutions which get rid of excess paperwork.

A recent report issued by TransUnion, on May 8, shows that the rate of suspected Digital Fraud attempts among financial services transactions where the consumer was in Rwanda when transacting increased by 163 per cent year-over-year to 6.9 per cent in 2023.

This is according to TransUnion’s 2024 State of Omnichannel Fraud Report which showed that 3.3 per cent of all transactions, where the consumer was in Rwanda were flagged as being suspected Digital Fraud – a 31 per cent year-on-year increase.

When comparing global Digital Fraud attempts to transactions coming from Rwanda, nearly one in seven (13.5 per cent) newly created accounts were suspected to be created via Digital Fraud globally in 2023.

The highest percentage of suspected Digital Fraud in the online customer journey occurred at account creation, at 5.8 per cent according to the report, meaning that scammers find it easy to create fake accounts in Rwanda.

Examples of the types of transactions that take place during the account creation process include account signup, registration and loan origination. Among the industries globally that saw the highest percentage of digital account creation transactions suspected to be Digital Fraud globally in 2023 were retail (44.7 per cent), travel and leisure (36.0 per cent), and video gaming (31.5 per cent).

Similarly, for transactions where the consumer was in Rwanda, the highest percentage of suspected Digital Fraud in the online customer journey occurred at account creation, at 5.8 per cent, varying widely by industry.

"This early-phase new account Digital Fraud may represent a paradigm shift of sorts among fraudsters,” says Sam Tayengwa, Chief Executive Officer at TransUnion Rwanda.

"In lieu of using traditional tactics to gain access to and ultimately compromise existing accounts, they are increasingly choosing to create new accounts that they can control themselves. These fraudsters leverage synthetic identities assembled in large part through the use of credentials gathered as a result of one or multiple data breaches,” he added.

The study found that 5 per cent of all global digital transactions were suspected to be Digital Fraud in 2023, with the volume of risky transactions up 14 per cent YoY and 105 per cent from 2019 to 2023. This growth continues to outpace the growth in digital transactions, which rose 90 per cent from 2019 to 2023.

"As a result of credentials stolen in data breaches, often in industries other than retail, it has become increasingly easy for fraudsters to perpetuate attacks that leave retailers vulnerable to account takeover.”

Majority of those perpetrators know how to evade trace and may sometimes include foreigners who travel to Rwanda to covertly run scams. They can include anything from minerals to valuable goods or even cars.

Murangira said that RIB has been working closely with victims, and other institutions to nab fraudsters who are charged under law no Nº68/2018 of 30/08/2018 determining offences and penalties in general.

"Article 174 on fraud states that any person who, by deception, obtains another person’s property, whole or part of his/her finance by use of false names or qualifications, or who offers positive promises or who threatens of future misfortunes, commits an offence,”

"Upon conviction, he or she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years and not more than three years,” Murangira said, adding that a fine of not less than Rwf3m and not more than Rwf5m is imposed when found guilty of committing fraud.

As a deterrent measure, the more sophisticated or ‘lucrative’ a scam is, the more charges and penalties imposed.

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Murangira urged members of the public to be more vigilant because it is the first line of defence, since scammers tend to use credulous methods, duping even people who thought they could never be duped.